Madrassa Students are Second to None: Shakeel Ahmad

Hyderabad: Students coming out from Madrassas are second to none in terms of intelligence and hard work. That’s why these students are coming out with flying colours in the toughest competitive examinations like civil services.

Prof. Shakeel Ahmad, Pro Vice-Chancellor expressed these views today while delivering the presidential address in the inaugural of a national seminar ‘The contribution of Madarsas in the Promotion of Persian Language and Literature’ held at Central Library Auditorium, MANUU. To substantiate his claim he referred to the recent success of Mr Shahid T. Komath from Kerala, who had all his schooling from Madrassa. Interestingly, Shahid availed the residential coaching facility offered by MANUU Civil Services Academy to prepare for the prelims. Prof. Ahmad expressed the need for an enhanced interface between Universities like MANUU and Madrassas. These Madarsas can provide students intake in different courses being offered by MANUU, he remarked.

The Department of Persian, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, in collaboration with Fakharuddin Ali Ahmed Memorial Committee (FAAMC), Lucknow organised the National seminar.

Mufti Khaleel Ahmed, Vice-Chancellor, Jamia Nizamia, Hyderabad in his address referred to the wealth of knowledge present in the Persian language. We simply cannot ignore the heritage of our forefathers. Language neither has a religion nor bear identity of any sect, he said.

Prof. Hasan Abbas noted Persian Scholar and Director, Raza Library, Rampur (UP) in his keynote address threw light on different phases of the history of madrassas, prominent seminaries and their curriculum. Persian was the language of rulers for centuries in India, he added. Today there is a need to prepare indexes of the rare manuscripts available in the libraries of Madrassas, he suggested.

Prof. Arif Ayyubi, Chairman, Fakharuddin Ali Ahmed Memorial Committee (FAAMC), Lucknow in his speech made it clear the success of madrassa system is undeniable but as a matter of fact, this system is fast losing its relevance in the contemporary world.

Prof. Shahid Naukhez, Head, Dept. of Persian in his opening remarks said that the seminar is an effort to bring MANUU and Madrassas face-to-face. Dr Qaiser Ahmed, Director, Seminar delivered the welcome address and pointed out that United Nations could not find any language more human-friendly than Persian.